Guest Column: Shutdown didn't solve any of the country's problems

I came home from work soon after my 5-year-old son got his first bike, and he told me it had a flat tire on the rear. I took the bike apart and checked the tube for a leak. No leak. I put the bike back together and off he rode. The next afternoon the same thing happened. A flat, but no leak.

Next two days same thing. A flat but no leak.

Finally my wife told me she saw him letting the air out of the tire every afternoon just before I got home from work. When I asked him why he did that, he said, "I like to watch you work on stuff so I can learn."

The kid learned. He became a great military pilot leading an Apache helicopter group in two wars in Iraq and a well-known corporate jet pilot.

So what's with Congress? Why can't they learn to work together on "stuff?"

The majority Republican House of Representatives shut down the federal government, even though they knew they couldn't kill Obamacare or stop an increase in the national debt ceiling.

They cost us taxpayers over $24 billion.

There were 800,000 federal workers out of work. Thousands of small businesses that depend on providing those workers with services were hurt. Even here in Lafayette.

Local taxes collected to keep our community operating had to be less.

The stock market dropped drastically because it looked like America was going to default on their debt. Your 401(k) probably lost value.

In an interview, Sen. John McCain said the whole thing was a "fool's errand." They knew the shutdown wasn't going to work.

When Republican House speaker John Boehner was interviewed, he said "the American people won't stand for this."

Stand for what? The American people need our government running. They need members of both parties to work toward a compromise.

In the end, the Republican Party shot itself in the foot. There will be no Republican president in 2016.

Now that Congress has finally reached an agreement, they need to work together to cut runaway spending so we don't have to raise the debt limit again. It's as simple as that.

If you overspend, you pay your bills off and then you figure out how to spend within your means.

You should write, call or email your senators and representatives and tell them to work together for a better America or be replaced.

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Guest Column: Shutdown didn't solve any of the country's problems

I came home from work soon after my 5-year-old son got his first bike, and he told me it had a flat tire on the rear. I took the bike apart and checked the tube for a leak. No leak. I put the bike